Tuesday, October 30, 2012

WEATHERFORD OKLAHOMA TO SANTA ROSA, NEW MEXICO…WE’RE IN AN RV PARK. WHAT!!!!

A TEXAS REST AREAWe have already traveled through a couple time zones, so already we are 2 hours behind Bayfield time. When we reach Arizona it will be a 3 hour difference. And, by the way, because of the time changes now, my blog will publish at a different time than usual.Another good sleep Monday night & we woke up with 'shopping' on our minds this morning. What!! Shopping!!!! Yep, while in Walmart Monday night picking up a few groceries, Kelly noticed an Acer Notepad on sale. Her 6 year old Toshiba laptop is slowly dying so we had already decided to replace it before we have a total computer crash. We were back in the Walmart at 7 a.m. this morning. The smaller & cheaper Acer fits Kelly's needs perfectly. Did we go with Microsoft’s new Windows 8……..? Nope, we're sticking with Windows 7:))JUST A HAPPY GUY ROLLIN DOWN THE ROAD:))While in Walmart we also decided it was a good time to pick up a television, blue ray DVD player & a small micro-wave for our Congress home. Once we get there it will be a long time before we are in any big box stores again so just made sense to grab these things while we could. Got ourselves a light weight flat screen 32" LED Samsung TV which we will take back to Bayfield with us & put in the sunroom for the summer. Totally amazing how cheap the price of televisions have become over the years. Also picked up 3 little colorful kitchen bowls with an amazing sticker inside each one saying.....'Made in the U.S.A.’ Wow Walmart, bet you didn’t know you had those in the store:)) SOMETIMES WE HAVE TO SWITCH NAVIGATOR’S, & SOMETIMES THE NAVIGATOR FALLS ASLEEPI ALWAYS GET A KICK OUT OF WHEN KELLY SAYS ON THE DEER PARK LODGE PHONE, “UMMM, I’M NOT AT THE OFFICE AT THE MOMENT”Rolled out of the Weatherford Walmart about 8 this morning, picked up some fuel & headed west on I-40. Beautiful sunny morning & what a great feeling it was to be motoring down the road watching scenery slowly morphing into scenic open plains & tall plateaus. Yes, this is the great south-west we so dearly love. Crossed the Texas State line about 9:20 & the New Mexico State Line 4 hours later. Gotta love the sweeping horizon to horizon vistas. Watched for & spotted the first small mountain at Tucumcari. It's the kind of territory that brings out the little wannabe cowboy kid in me.I knew Albuquerque was too far for us today plus we are now in the area of the States we prefer so from here on in we are basically home for the winter. MapQuest reflected that feeling as we throttled back to a shorter 352 miles. Today’s miles landed us on the doorstep of a little town called Santa Rosa New Mexico, right alongside I-40. Hauled ourselves off the Interstate about 2:30 & decided on an RV Park for the night. What!! An RV Park!!!! Yep, every once in a long while the Bayfield Bunch just throws in the sponge, pulls into an RV Park, hits the showers, burns up some real electricity, & cracks on an unlimited water supply. Also time to dump a couple tanks & lose a bit of weight. And, we even have Wifi for a change. I'm thinking it's maybe a year & a half since we were last in a private RV Park. Don’t want to over-do it you know………..SPOTTED OUR FIRST CACTUS TODAYThe SANTA ROSA CAMPGROUND RV PARK is on the north side of the wide main street & we like it. Very neat & clean campground. Eighty foot pull through’s, site picnic tables, great water pressure, nice Mesquite trees etc. etc. Especially liked the showers. Lots of endless hot water & hooks to hang clothes on. Two thumbs up for the Park & despite high surrounding hills & mountains we were still able to pull in about 10 TV channels with our rig’s aerial up. Pet area is too small though & pets have to stay on the roads or they will get stickers in their paws. Pheebs got 2 flat tires right off the bat when I tried to walk her in a nearby field. Goats beard stickers I think. Wifi was fine until late afternoon when more RV'ers rolled in & jumped on their computers. We had to switch back to our Verizon system…but it too was slow:(( SANTA ROSA CAMPGROUND RV PARK, SANTA ROSA NEW MEXICOSay, did I mention how warm it is. Yep, drove along today with the driver’s side window open & switched into a short sleeve shirt this afternoon. Awwwwwwww. In the word’s of The Honeymooner’s Ralph Kramden…..“how sweet it is”:))TUCKED AWAY IN AN RV PARKGROANER’S CORNER:(( And, in the word’s of Rodney Dangerfield……..
. I was such an ugly kid...When I played in the sandbox, the cat kept covering me up.

I could tell my parents hated me. My bath toys were a toaster and a radio.

I was such an ugly baby...My mother never breast fed me. She told me that she only liked me as a friend.

I'm so ugly...My father carries around a picture of the kid who came with his wallet.

When I was born, the doctor came into the waiting room and said to my father, "I'm sorry. We did everything we could, but he pulled through."

I'm so ugly...My mother had morning sickness, after I was born.

-------------------------------------------------------------- - Tourists see the world, travelers experience it. - Home is where your pet is:)) - "If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans." (James Herriot) - The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails -William Arthur Ward - The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL. - It is not so much having nothing to do as it is not having the interest to do something....AL. - OUR PHOTO ALBUMS - .https://picasaweb.google.com/117858411710794543295/stargeezerguy@gmail.com

I hate it when the pups get stickers in their tender little pads. Poppy always looks so pitiful. Pheebs sure looks like a great navigator - as long as she isn't sleeping on the job. Travel safe and enjoy your new toys.

That's sure a big 'ol sun catcher there behind the wheel ;)) Pheebs looks a bit peeved at Kelly taking up "her seat". Sure nice to see you enjoying some sunshine and cactus. Stay out of trouble, and have a safe trip the rest of the way "home".

Love the picture of you at the wheel. Makes you look like a combat RV driver, Ready for anything.Glad to see you are getting close and I hope Pheebs isn't still sore from the thorns. Be safe out there, and watch out for Veeblefetzers. Sam & Donna..

Well Bayfield bunch, you sure passed us up!! We are being held up here in Nacogdoshes, TX for some parts (shade motor) to be overnighted..... So with a little luck we will be outta here and right behind you....Both are anxious to get to Congress......Travel safe..You should make it in TODAY!!!

Our Samsung at home is very deficient in its sound level. LIsten to yours critically from the program source(s) you will use. We bought a Sony 32" for the RV bedroom because in one Internet forum about TV, someone said 'if you want sound from a flat panel, buy a Sony'. Enjoy your new house!

AL'S CAMERA EQUIPMENT

A sometimes asked question readers have about my blog is what kind of a camera do I use. Well I have 8 of them and use them all. Five Nikon DSLR's, two quality Sony point and shoots plus one older Canon point and shoot.

'UPDATE':: July 2017 Thanks to a very generous blog reader I have been able to update my Nikon camera equipment and supplement my camera gear with a couple additional fine Sony cameras as well.I now have a 'donated' Nikon D7200 sporting my new Nikkor 18-300 3.5 zoom lens. Also have picked up a new Nikkor 1.8 primary 35mm lens. In addition I also now have a Sony RX100-3 camera as well as a Sony Exmore Cybershot. I have given my Canon Powershot point and shoot camera to a neighbor.

- In early 2017 I replaced my Nikon D-90 camera with a new D-3400 after the 'auto focus' feature on my aging D-90 quit working. The Nikon D-90 had been my work horse camera sporting a Nikkor 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 lens. I used this camera for most of my landscapes and I now have it set up for night photography where 'auto focus' is not necessary.

-My older faithful and favorite Nikon D-40 finally packed it in during the summer of 2015 and I replaced it with a new Nikon D-3100.

- Previous to my Nikon D-90, most of my photos were taken with my old faithful Nikon D-50 from 2006 to early 2011 whereupon the D-50 suffered a rather gruesome death when it fell off a table onto a cement porch in southeastern Arizona. The 70-300mm lens on the camera survived the fall but the D-50 did not. My Nikkor lenses are interchangable between the D-90 the D-3100 and the D-3400.